About the Family of jacopa association

NATURE AND PURPOSE OF THE ASSOCIATION

The Family of Jacopa Association is a Public Association of the Christian Faithful in the Diocese of Steubenville.

The Spirituality of the Family of Jacopa Association is Franciscan, which is living the Gospel messages with love. As Franciscans we are to be Disciples of Christ living the Trinitarian spirituality in our relationships with Christ as our spouse, as sisters to our community members, and as mothers to the family of God. ​

​​The Charism of the Family of Jacopa Association: God Our Father has given us the gift of a full life. We are mature women, widows and single women who wish to give ourselves completely to Our Lord Jesus Christ. The Gifts of the Holy Spirit made manifest in us impels us to act out of love and gratefulness, to perfect in ourselves the Fruits of the Holy Spirit as we offer the rest of our lives for His Holy Church. Imbued by the s​alvific action of Jesus Christ our lives will be lived with the infused charisms of the Theological Virtues of; Faith, Hope and Charity (Love).

Our Mission is to reveal Our Lord's compassion for the family of God. -The Family of Jacopa will offer our prayers and penances for the Church Suffering. We will pray for and evangelize the Church Militant. -We will encourage souls to conversion, preparing them for eternal life in Heaven with the Church Triumphant, the Blessed Virgin Mary and the Holy Trinity.

​Our Apostolates are prayer and service, especially for widows and including our heroic priests, the suffering elderly and the many needs of mothers and families. Monastery: As contemplatives the Sisters; pray the full Divine Office daily, host day retreats for groups, host private retreats for women (1-10 days).Apostolic: As apostolic Franciscans the FJA participates in visiting widows and helping with their needs and other apostolates pertaining to our Charism given to us by our Bishop.

Our holy Essence is: 1 Corinthians 13:4-13Brothers and sisters: Love is patient love is kind. It is not jealous, it is not pompous, It is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails. If there are prophecies, they will be brought to nothing; if tongues, they will cease; if knowledge, it will be brought to nothing. For we know partially and we prophesy partially, but when the perfect domes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I used to talk as a child, think as a child, reason as a child; when I became a man I put aside childish things. At present we see indistinctly, as in a mirror but then face to face. At present I know partially; then I shall know fully, as I am fully known. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.

STAGES OF VOCATIONAL DISCERNMENT

Initial Contact with Vocation Director: Email or Call to set up a telephone interview

Come and See Visits: #1 is a full four day visit, preferably arriving on Thursday evening and leaving Tuesday morning. #2 is a full seven day visit, preferably arriving Saturday evening and leaving on Sunday afternoon.

Aspirancy: After the full application has been presented by the Inquirer and accepted, she is invited to live for a full month at the Motherhouse where further testing and discernment will be required. The Aspirant will return home and discern if she will request to formally join the community as a Postulant.

Postulancy: After the Aspirant is accepted to join the community in further religious discernment, she will fully move into the Motherhouse (Formation Program) as a Postulant for a six month period.

Novitiate: After the Postulant has been approved for the Novitiate program she will have a formal, private ceremony at the Motherhouse chapel and will be clothed in the Novice habit of the community and begin a one year Canonical Novitiate program of discernment.

Temporary Vows: Upon acceptance into the FJA community Juniorate program the Novice will have a public ceremony in our parish church and profess her first of three Temporary Vows. The Sister will be formally clothed in the approved habit of the Family of Jacopa Association as a Sister of Jacopa, at this time.

Permanent Vows: Upon acceptance to formally join the FJA as a full member the Junior Sister will be allowed to profess her Permanent Vows at a public ceremony at our parish church into the hands of the Mother Superior and before the Bishop.

THE STORY OF THE FOUNDRESS OF THE FAMILY OF JACOPA ASSOCIATIONMother Rose Catherine of the Triumph of the Cross, F.J. (formerly Kathleen Ann (Bartlett) Marshall)

Community History The charisma of The Family of Jacopa Association came to its Foundress, Kathleen Ann (Bartlett) Marshall, O.F.S. on September 14th, 2012 (The Exaltation of the Holy Cross). Kathleen is a baptized Roman Catholic and has also received the Sacraments of First Communion, Confirmation and Holy Matrimony. Kathleen was married for 15 years and widowed in 1993 in Bermuda. Seeking a deeper Catholic spirituality and after making her Total Consecration to Mary and becoming a member of the Militia Immaculata, she became a professed member of the Order of Franciscan Seculars in 1998 in Steubenville, Ohio. Although a mother of two sons and a foster/adoptive mother of her nephew, Kathleen continued to feel the call of God on her life and was accepted as a Sister into the Handmaids of Nazareth in 2000 (Diocese of Peoria). She made her permanent profession in this Private lay association of the faithful in June 2004. After the community became defunct (no longer under canonical jurisdiction) in 2007, Kathleen and another Sister began the preparatory phase for a new religious community of women in Chicago. In 2010 the project was ended and Kathleen began her postulancy and then novitiate with the Franciscan Handmaids of the Immaculate (Archdiocese of Boston). In July 2011 Kathleen was requested to return home to Steubenville, Ohio to help a needy relative and therefore ended her novitiate. Returning to her original Secular Franciscan Fraternity she began to discern her call in religious life again resulting in the founding of The Family of Jacopa Association. The name of the community comes from the beloved widow friend and follower of Saint Francis of Assisi, a Secular Franciscan; Blessed Jacopa de’Settisoli, (actual name: Giacoma Frangipane). “Family” is part of the name of the community because we are the “Family of God” and the “Family” of St. Francis of Assisi and St. Clare of Assisi. The Foundress desired that the members build a “Family” together for God and to live in their dwellings with a family atmosphere of love, sharing and work with a family décor (not institutional). The Most Reverend Bishop Jeffrey Marc Monforton of the Diocese of Steubenville first brought the idea of “family” to the Foundress during his remarks at his Installation Mass on September 10, 2012. On February 8, 2014, Kathleen Marshall made her Private Promise to the FJA before Fr. Thomas Nau, Pastor of the Triumph of the Cross parish in Steubenville, OH. As of November 2014 the FJA consisted of three associates of the Christian Faithful; (Foundress, Postulant and Dedicated Widow). Approbation as a Public Association of the Christian Faithful was permitted by the Bishop of Steubenville on August 25, 2015. The Sisters received their habits at a public ceremony after Holy Mass at the Triumph of the Cross parish in Steubenville, OH on the Founding Day, September 14, 2015 (The Exaltation of the Cross).